Blooming Easy

31 March 1986

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A fortnight after her short-head second to Shotgun Wedding in the Oaks Trial, Millard-trained Enchanted Garden showed her superiority in the SA Oaks at Turffontein.

It was left to Shotgun Wedding's stablemate Whisky Bravo to provide the main opposition.

Enchanted Garden was one of four runners on the heels of pacemaking Striking turning into the straight and took over 500m out, drawing into a six-length lead at the 200m pole. Whisky Bravo produced a sustained finishing run to save the race from becoming a farce, Enchanted Garden prevailing by 3½ lengths in race-record time. Shotgun Wedding could do no better than a remote fifth.

Enchanted Garden

ENCHANTED GARDEN (1982 f Roland Gardens - Captivation by London Way). Enchanted Garden was bred at Rose Parker’s Ascot Stud in the Eastern Cape. Her dam Captivation, whose half-brothers Captive Prince (by Prince Sao) and Captain Ekels (by Jan Ekels) were top class stayers, won once, over 1000m at 2. Enchanted Garden sold to Mr and Mrs A M van Zyl for R35.000 at the 1984 National Yearling Sales, to go into training with Jim Brady. Coming to hand early, she had no less than 10 starts in her juvenile season for five wins and three places, including the Gr1 TAB Transvaal Juvenile Fillies Stakes, making her one of the top fillies of her generation.
Des Scott purchased the filly for R200.000 at the end of her 2yo career and transferred her to David Payne at Summerveld. She won a B Division in Natal before narrowly beating a classy field in the Fillies Guineas at Germiston. Her trainer David Payne boldly predicted she would beat Petrava in the Paddock Stakes, but things didn\'t quite work out that way. After running fourth to Bimbina in the Highlands Stud Classic (formerly Cape Fillies Guineas), she could do no better than third in the Paddock Stakes (Petrava did not run).
The filly subsequently changed hands again, to Tony Ross and Adrian Gardiner, for R300.000 and was transferred to Terrance Millard. Her first outing for Millard was on the Rand in the Oaks Trial, where she gave 6.5kg to narrow winner Shotgun Wedding. Enchanted Garden was in full cry two weeks later in the SA Oaks, which she won by 3½ lengths in record time. This was followed by another eyecatching performance in the Sun International, despite an objection for crossing stable mate Potomac close home. Enchanted Garden clocked her 3rd Gr1 in a row when registering a 2 length victory in the Natal Oaks. She was also part of Millard’s first-three-past-the-post in the Rothmans July, finishing 3rd to stable mates Occult and Fools Holme. In the last race of her 3yo season, Enchanted Garden met with interference in the Mainstay International and failed to produce her usual form. She had done enough to be crowned Champion 3yo Filly and Horse of the Year and was rated by conditioner Terrance Millard as “the best middle distance filly this country has seen for years. She has no equals.”
Enchanted Garden opened her 4yo career with a victory in the John Skeaping. The rain delayed Barclays 200 000 turned into a 2-horse affair between the filly and Model Man, in a race where draw, going and pace proved significant, allowing Model Man to get the better of her by five lengths. Back in Cape Town, Enchanted Garden gave a devastating performance in the Listed Shawco Rag Handicap in March and looked on song for the flu-delayed J&B Met. As expected, the Met had no real early pace, but produced an exciting tussle between Model Man and Enchanted Garden in the last 100m, in which Model Man hung on to win by a neck. Her subsequent Natal winter season campaign was an anti-climax.
With 12 wins and 10 places on her cv, Enchanted Garden retired to Ross & Gardiner’s Roodefontein Stud. She had 4 foals of which 3 were runners, all winners, including her daughter Fairy Garden (by Elliodor), who produced Gr1 Cape Derby and Gr1 Paddock Stakes winner Dog Wood.
Legacy: 1985 Gr1 TAB Transvaal Juvenile Fillies Stakes, 1985 Gr1 Gosforth Park SA Fillies Guineas, 1986 Gr1 SA Oaks, 1986 Gr1Sun International, 1986 Gr1 Natal Oaks; Champion 3yo Filly & Horse of the Year 1985/86